Salvage
by BlackAmethyst58
Summary: He could barely take care of himself, much less his child. So why did Jade leave their baby girl to him'Because she knows that you'll do whatever it takes for your baby girl.' Spoilers for today's episode. Roy/OC Annabeth Friendship
1. Chapter 1

After Jade left, Roy was left with his daughter in his arms. She was probably a few months old with his auburn red hair and Jade's olive complexion. He smiled weakly as he looked at her.

Lian Nguyen Harper. It was a nice name, Li would be her nickname. Born to an assassin mother and a fallen archer. Roy chuckled bitterly as he continued to rock Lian lightly in his arms.

He could barely take care of himself, much less his child. So why did Jade leave their baby girl to him?

'_Because she knows that you'll do whatever it takes for your baby girl. Do as she said Roy, exercise your obsession with Speedy and take care of Lian.'_ Said a soft voice in the back of his mind. It sounded like the old him, the young one who had his high pride and was too proud for anyone's help. But in this day and time, he knew that of this moment he needed help.

But who could he go to? He was married to an assassin, a worker for the Light, and had a child with her. Surely he couldn't go to Ollie. He would try to get him back. Dinah was still angry that he let himself obsess himself this deep into finding the real Roy Harper. Dick and Wally were out of the question completely, he didn't even want to consider either of them. So that only left him with one other person.

Annabeth.

He hadn't spoken to her in such a long time before tonight when they confronted him on the roof top. Yeah, she tried to help him, as did the others to find Speedy. But after two years of heavy obsession, she had taken herself out of the search. Even so she still told Roy that if he needed help of any kind, then she would no more than a call away.

But that call seemed years away.

Annabeth was disappointed, as were the others, that he resorted to stealing to fund his search for the real Roy. Even though the real Roy was presumed dead, Jade had gotten a lead. But she decided that giving that information while taking in the fact that he has a daughter would be too much for him to take, so she would leave it to the next time she came around.

Now looking at Lian, Roy decided that call was going to be made. He would do whatever it takes to take care of his child. For now, this was his first and only priority. Standing up, Roy gathered a few clean blankets and set Lian in there. He walked over to a small case that held the phone that Annabeth gave him to use in order to contact her, it was a small prepaid cell phone that Roy never used.

Flipping it open, Roy glanced at the screen saver that had a picture of a snowy night. He went to the contacts and saw the only number. It read blocked and when he tried to see the number, it wouldn't show. Sighing in defeat, he pressed _Call _and was now waiting for the brunet to answer.

After the fourth ring, Roy didn't expect to hear a voice.

"_I see you finally decided that you need help."_

"Uh, yeah." Was that all that Roy could say? He gripped at his grown hair and sighed. The tone in her voice wasn't relieved or happy; it was cold, harsh, and flat.

"Listen, An-Midknight. I need you to-I…" Roy gripped at his hair again and glanced over to Lian. He sighed once again and cleared his throat.

"I just need help. C-Could you maybe come over?"

The line was quiet for a few seconds; Roy was starting to think that Annabeth hung up on him.

"_At least you're smart enough now to know when to call for help. Be there in ten." _Annabeth replied flatly. She hung up afterwards. Roy flipped the phone shut and put it back into its case.

All he had to do now was waiting for Annabeth and make sure Lian wouldn't wake up.

Ten minutes passed and Roy heard only two cars pass through. Hearing a soft tap, aged blue eyes looked up to see Midknight. She wasn't in her uniform, which meant she was probably coming from the Manor. Midknight was leaning against the wall with her hair tied back in a high pony tail. Sunglasses covered her eyes from his view, but he knew that she was looking at him.

Midknight said nothing as Roy stood. Midknight raised her hand to stop him and nodded her chin over to Lian.

"Who. When. Name." she said, her sentences were chopped and encrypted.

'_She really changed from the thirteen year old I used to know._' Roy thought, he picked Lian up in his arms and sighed. If he wanted her help, then he would need to play by her rules.

"This is my daughter, Lian. She's just a few months old." Roy answered. Midknight narrowed her eyes behind the sunglasses.

"Mother?" Midknight asked firmly, Roy knew that she wasn't going to go easy on him.

"Jade."

"Cheshire's her mother? When were you two ever together?"

"We're married actually."

Midknight remained quiet and pushed off from the wall effortlessly. Walking over, she gently took Lian into her own arms and pushed her sunglasses up to her head. Lian squirmed as she awoke; innocent baby blue eyes looked up to see Annabeth's own blue eyes. Lian smiled and laughed. Annabeth chuckled as the baby grabbed her finger with her hand.

"She's beautiful Roy." Annabeth told him, smiling to Lian. Roy smiled himself and nodded, he felt a tear coming to his eye. He blinked it back and nodded.

"Yeah, she is." Roy said softly. Lian looked over to Roy and they held each other's eyes for a moment, Lian blinked before she looked as though she was going to cry. Annabeth quietly shushed her and began bouncing her softly.

"Don't worry, she doesn't recognize you. She'll get to know you as the night progresses." Annabeth told him. Lian quieted and was now playing with Annabeth's hair.

"Then how is it that she has no problem with you?" Roy snapped, Annabeth gave him a dead paned look. He hadn't meant to snap, but it was a new fatherly thing he supposed.

"I have that motherly aura is why." Annabeth replied, she set Lian down on the couch and sat beside her. Lian crawled onto her lap and sat there.

"So is this why you called me?"

"Yeah, I didn't know who else to call." Roy said sheepishly. Annabeth nodded before she set Lian on the couch and standing. Going to the window, she set her foot out and replaced her sunglasses.

"Wait!" Roy called.

"Don't turn your back on a baby while it's on elevated surface! Lian could easily fall and have serious injury!" Annabeth snapped, pointing her finger to Lian who was nearing the edge of the couch. Roy gasped and rushed over; he picked up Lian swiftly and held her in his arms.

"I'll be back; I just need to get a few things for Lian. Not only is this not the place for a child, a baby no less, but she's bound to get hungry and need a diaper change." Annabeth told him before she jumped down. She walked down to the convenience store down two blocks and grabbed the necessary things.

Firing her grappling hook, she found herself confronted by a crying Lian and confused Roy.

"I told you she would be hungry." Annabeth scolded, she set the bags down and fished out a bottle of baby food and a plastic spoon. Shoving the two into Roy's hands, she instructed him to feed his daughter while she cleaned up a bit to make it a good place for a child to live.

About two hours later, Roy's 'apartment' looked entirely better. Trash bags filled with trash waited by the window to be thrown out and Lian was sleeping peacefully with a new diaper and an exhausted Roy sat on the floor.

Annabeth laughed softly and grabbed a box from the only bag left. Throwing it at Roy, she pointed to the bathroom.

"Go. Shave. Now." She said." You look terrible and if you're going to stop looking for the real Speedy, then you at least have to fix your appearance. It was the same thing when you were getting clean. So go shave and I'll cut your hair."

Roy looked to the box and back to Annabeth who was currently aiming the best way to throw the bags down. He sighed and went to do as told. As he rubbed in the shaving crème, Roy looked at his reflection. He really let himself go. Looking at his body, he saw that he had loss muscles and weight. His hair was raggedy and long, not short and tame like five years ago. He squeezed his eyes shut and looked out to Lian, Annabeth was now with her and stroking the auburn hair softly.

Annabeth was right, he needed to clean up. Even though Jade had gotten a lead to the real Roy, he still needed to clean up for Lian, because no child should have to see their father in such a way.

'_Maybe that's why she almost cried when she saw me.' _Roy thought.

He went to shaving and hissed as he nicked himself. After cleaning the shaving crème and splashing water onto his face and in his hair, he walked back out to Annabeth.

"Now you don't look half bad. Just need your hair snipped." She said, beckoning him over she pointed to the chair in front of her. Roy walked and sat in the chair, Annabeth set a towel on his shoulder and began snipping, occasionally spraying his hair with water.

"So you and Jade are married. How did that come about?" Annabeth questioned as she stood in front of him to cut his bangs. Roy remained quiet as Annabeth cut his hair.

"No wish to speak anymore? Roy, it's just as Wally and Dick said on the rooftop. You're the only Roy we know. We didn't know Speedy when he was swapped. The only people who were probably doped were Oliver and Dinah. You're the only Roy I know." She muttered, cutting the final locks. She rubbed a towel through his hair and swept the floor of the fallen auburn hair.

Looking at the bathroom mirror, Roy saw that he was back to normal. Despite the weight loss.

"Roy, I have to go now." Annabeth told him, she went to lean against the window sill.

"Listen, I won't tell anyone that you have a baby girl and married Cheshire. But you have to promise me something."

Roy glanced up to Annabeth. He tossed the towel on the chair.

"What is it?" Roy asked, sitting next to Lian.

"I want you to be the best damn father you can for her. I lost my father at a young age, so I don't want her to have to go through the same thing. If I find out that you're not taking care of her properly, then I'll be forced to bring in Oliver and Dinah for Lian's sake. So take care of her Roy, she is your only priority now." Annabeth told him, she put her sunglasses on and jumped down into the night.

Roy followed after her and watched her speed away.

"Don't worry Annabeth; she'll be the only one." Roy said softly. He yawned and went to turn in for the night.

~End~


	2. Part 2

A/N: So this is the second part to Salvage. I originally wasn't going to continue it but then I thought of great second part and I received a review saying I should continue it. But there's only so much I can write without the next episode. So this is the final part for his episode. But if I can, I'll write more episodes with Annabeth making an appearance in the future. So here you go! Hope you enjoy it, please review!

* * *

~Three Weeks Later~

Annabeth was leaning against the wall in Roy's apartment. It was mid-day and Annabeth had taken the day off from college, claiming to be sick. Lian was playing in a cleared out corner of the apartment with a stuffed animal Annabeth brought over from the mansion.

Roy was currently standing in the kitchen making a bottle for the baby; his appearance hadn't declined from the last visit three weeks ago. But his body still didn't look as well.

"It looks like you're getting better at the father role, Roy." Annabeth commented, fixing the fedora hat that rested on her head. Roy stepped out of the kitchen and shrugged, walking over to Lian; he gave her the bottle and smiled as she held onto his hand.

"Besides the rare waking up in the middle of the night for her change or a bottle, it's not really that hard. She's a good girl, already showing independence." Roy said, he kissed her forehead and went to the couch to sort out a few things Annabeth brought over.

"I just hope she doesn't take in your extremely high pride and her mother's violence. I think the two won't be a good pairing." Annabeth noted, she went over to Lian and began to pat her back softly. Seeing that the baby had fallen asleep, the brunet cleared the comforter and set Lian on her back. Annabeth turned back to Roy and retook her spot against the wall.

Now to the real reason she came. Roy scoffed softly and looked back to the grown hero.

"Says the one who has both,"

"In order to take care of someone else, you need to take care of yourself first." Annabeth said suddenly. Roy stopped fumbling with the box in his hands and looked up to Annabeth; her arms were folded tightly as one foot was propped up against the wall. Blue eyes were staring him down directly.

"That's what Bruce told me after he took in the second Robin. When we found out that Kaldur was working with Black Manta, I was a wreck. To think that one of my best friends, the one I fought beside, the one I trusted with my life had threatened to kill me. The same best friend who I told my story to. Who I didn't have to hide my identity from, I tried to help the second Robin with something personal, but then Bruce stopped me and said that to me." Annabeth told him.

"That caused me to think about you. How you betrayed us, betrayed me. I told you my story, my past; I showed my true identity to you. So when I found out that you were the mole, all I could think of was: What if he's given Savage my entire past? It was you who I looked up to Roy. You were the big brother out of the five of us. More importantly, you were _my_ big brother. Oliver and Dinah watched over me while Bruce and Dick worked on the Dynamic Duo.

"You know what I always did while I was staying over? I watched you train; you worked so hard in order to impress Ollie and get him to take you as his partner. The way your concentration would never be broken so easily. I admired your stupidly high pride and confidence in yourself that made up for what I didn't have. Me being ten and just taken from juvie, what pride would I have? But then the roof top…" Annabeth trailed off after that, going back to three weeks ago. Annabeth desperately wanted to say all of this back then, but she couldn't because he needed a wakeup call like when he was getting over his drug addiction. And not to mention she had just taken in the fact that he was married to Cheshire, had a kid, and was going to be taking care of her.

"You're a fallen archer Roy." Annabeth said bluntly. Roy frowned, he stood and was about to snap back at the brunet, but Annabeth raised an eyebrow and continued.

"So in order to care for Li, then you need to clean up yourself because from here on out: I'm done. I've realized that I can't help you with everything like I said I would. Believe me when I say that I love you, you're still going to be my older brother. But you need to learn how to keep your head above water on your own and with the added weight of Lian. I had to learn that the hard way with Robin, I needed to keep my emotions in check for him because he needed me to be there for him and I did. I put everything that concerned me and my feelings down for him, so I could be there for him."

Roy felt his mind blank out. He hadn't been given one of Annabeth's speeches in a while. And her words tended to change people's minds about a lot of things, having seen a lot of things, gone through them and experienced them first hand.

"So this is me helping you. Figure out what you're going to do now and if you need help, call Oliver. Because at some point, I won't be able to help you and Ollie will be the next best thing."

"You sound like him now. So you're just going to turn your back on me? Just like all the rest did." Roy spat bitterly he stood and was about to step over to her. But Annabeth beat him to it. Grabbing him by his shirt collar, Annabeth pushed him up against the wall and wrapped her hand around his throat.

"You think I'm turning my back on you? Remember, _you _called _me_ asking for _my_ help. And no one turned their backs on you! You being too stupid and stubborn, you blocked out everyone who cares about you!" Annabeth poked his forehead hard to emphasize her point. "I told you that I wouldn't call Oliver and tell him about Lian, but now I'm really considering it since you have the balls to say that I'm turning my back on you." Annabeth hissed, pressing her fingers around his throat. Roy gasped and tried to pry her hand from his throat. Annabeth scoffed and pulled her hand back, stepping away from him as she watched him fall to the ground.

"This is really sad you know that? In the time it would've taken me to push you to the wall, you would've fought back and had me pinned instead. But now, you're so slow that even Lian could do some damage. To be honest, all I see here is loss muscle and a dull frame. I don't see that normal Roy Harper spark anymore. All I see is a stranger." Annabeth shook her head. She grabbed her bag and fallen fedora, walking over to the door she looked back to Roy.

"When was the last time you called for help? Five years ago in Taipei when you asked Kaldur for help." Roy's eyes widened at the words. Annabeth laughed dryly at his expression. Pointing a finger toward him, she spoke again. "You're right; I may be violent and have some high pride. But I'm not scared to admit that I need help. I'm not scared to call for it either. You are though. So get over yourself and call for someone else, because I'm done being your personal hero." And with that Annabeth left the apartment. Roy stayed there on the floor looking toward the door. He knew Annabeth wasn't turning her back on him. She was just trying to break down to his emotional barrier and get him to call the others. She knew that having only her to confide in wasn't healthy, and he needed to learn to let people in instead of pushing them out and locking his heart up with a pad lock.

Roy had so many people who care about him and want to help him, but he was too blind to see them. Too scared to take their hand in fear of being let down again. In that way, Annabeth was able to relate to him and get through all of his barriers, having seen him at his worst. But in the long run, being so proud and stubborn would get in the way. So it was a miracle that he let in Jade, but they were separated now so it didn't matter.

Annabeth walked from the building and to her car that was parked a block from his apartment. Unlocking her door and scaring off a few creepers in the process, she got into the car and sped off to catch her afternoon class. At a red light, Annabeth looked to her phone she discarded on the passenger seat. She knew that it would be lying to Roy when she said that she wouldn't tell anyone about Lian.

But in their current condition, Roy not working and Annabeth having quit as being Lian's care taker, it was no safe place for the baby. So Annabeth would be obliged to anyway as a hero. Eyeing the light, she grabbed her phone and dialed a quick number. Pressing the Bluetooth on in her car, she spoke up.

"Hey Ollie…"


End file.
